Tag Archives: Francis Schaeffer

Do the Commands of God Create Moral Duties for Those Who do not Believe in God?

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Ethics, Francis Schaeffer, Romans, Uncategorized

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I will post a review of the remarkable book Did God Really Command Genocide by Paul Copan & Matthew Flannagan. For the moment, I offer the following addendum to a discussion and objection to the Divine Command Theory of ethics (the understanding that something is morally obligatory because God commands it to be so, whether or not human beings understand the source of that obligation).

An objection discussed on page 155 of the book raise by philosopher Wes Morriston:

In order to successfully issue a command, one must deliver it to its intended recipients. This brings us back to the problem of the reasonable nonbeliever. On the fact if, God has not succeeded in speaking to her. And since she is a reasonable non-believer, God has not even succeeded in putting her in a  position in which she should have have heard a divine command. How then, can she be subject to God’s commands? How can her moral obligations be understood by reference to what God has commanded her to do?

Copan and Flannagan respond to the argument in terms of its philosophical merits. What I propose to add to their argument is a Scriptural response. Paul in Romans 1 & 2 directly addressed Morriston’s argument. In Romans 1, Paul explains that human beings actively seek to suppress the knowledge of God and his ethical condemnation of human sin:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:18–21 (ESV). Yet, despite the fact that human beings (the “reasonable nonbeliever”) deny any knowledge of God or God’s moral communication, human beings are well aware of the moral content of God’s communication: “Though they know God’s righteous decree” (Rom. 1:31). The “reasonable nonbeliever” apprehends God’s moral communication (“righteous decree”) in their conscience (which is exactly the basis upon which Morriston and other atheists seek to condemn the God of Scripture for being immoral). Paul makes clear that God’s moral authority is not premised upon the unbeliever being consciously aware of God having issued the command. The unbeliever’s moral conscience is a sufficient ground:

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:12–16 (ESV). Francis Schaeffer in his book The Church in a Post Christian Culture puts it this way:

Let me use an illustration again that I have used in other places. If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which this child as he grew bound other men, the moral precepts might be much lower than the biblical law, but they would still be moral judgments. Eventually each person comes to that great moment when he stands before God as judge. Suppose, then, that God simply touched the tape recorder button and each man heard played out in his own words all those statements by which he had bound other men in moral judgment. He could hear it going on for years—thousands and thousands of moral judgments made against other men, not aesthetic judgments, but moral judgments. Then God would simply say to the man, though he had never heard the Bible, now where do you stand in the light of your own moral judgments. The Bible points out in the passage quoted above that every voice would be stilled. All men would have to acknowledge that they have deliberately done those things which they knew to be wrong. Nobody could deny it.

Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, vol. 4 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 41–42.

 

The Importance of Holding to the Inerrancy of Scripture

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Apologetics, Church History, Culture, Francis Schaeffer, Scripture, Thomas Brooks

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Photo: Chris DeRham

Francis Schaffer, The Great Evangelical Divide:

Not far from where we live in Switzerland is a high ridge of rock with a valley on both sides. One time I was there when there was snow on the ground along that ridge. The snow was lying there unbroken, a seeming unity. However, that unity was an illusion, for it lay along a great divide; it lay along a watershed. One portion of the snow when it melted would flow into one valley. The snow which lay close beside would flow into another valley when it melted.

Now it just so happens on that particular ridge that the melting snow which flows down one side of that ridge goes down into a valley, into a small river, and then down into the Rhine River. The Rhine then flows on through Germany and the water ends up in the cold waters of the North Sea. The water from the snow that started out so close along that watershed on the other side of the ridge, when this snow melts, drops off sharply down the ridge into the Rhone Valley. This water flows into Lac Leman—or as it is known in the English-speaking world, Lake Geneva—and then goes down below that into the Rhone River which flows through France and into the warm waters of the Mediterranean.

The snow lies along that watershed, unbroken, as a seeming unity. But when it melts, where it ends in its destinations is literally a thousand miles apart. That is a watershed. That is what a watershed is. A watershed divides. A clear line can be drawn between what seems at first to be the same or at least very close, but in reality ends in very different situations. In a watershed there is a line.

 

A House Divided

What does this illustration have to do with the evangelical world today? I would suggest that it is a very accurate description of what is happening. Evangelicals today are facing a watershed concerning the nature of biblical inspiration and authority. It is a watershed issue in very much the same sense as described in the illustration. Within evangelicalism there are a growing number who are modifying their views on the inerrancy of the Bible so that the full authority of Scripture is completely undercut. But it is happening in very subtle ways. Like the snow lying side-by-side on the ridge, the new views on biblical authority often seem at first glance not to be so very far from what evangelicals, until just recently, have always believed. But also, like the snow lying side-by-side on the ridge, the new views when followed consistently end up a thousand miles apart.

What may seem like a minor difference at first, in the end makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference, as we might expect, in things pertaining to theology, doctrine and spiritual matters, but it also makes all the difference in things pertaining to the daily Christian life and how we as Christians are to relate to the world around us. In other words, compromising the full authority of Scripture eventually affects what it means to be a Christian theologically and how we live in the full spectrum of human life.

 

Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, vol. 4 , “The Great Evangelical Divide) (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 327–328.

 

Harold Lindsell, An Historian Looks at Inerrancy:

Lindsell begins his essay looking the history of attacks upon the Scripture from outside the Church. However, the saddest attacks are taking place within the church:

And the leaven is to be found in Christian colleges and theological seminaries, in books and articles, in Bible institute and conservative churches. The new leaven, as yet, has nothing to do was such a vital questions is the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the vicarious atonement, the physical resurrection from the dead, or the second advent. It involves what it has always involved in the first stages of its development–the nature and inspiration of authority…..

Today there are those who have been numbered among the new evangelicals, some of whom possessed the keenest minds and required the apparati of scholarship, who have broken, or are in the process of breaking, with the doctrine of an inerrant Scripture. They have done so or are doing so because they think this view to be indefensible and because they do not regard it as a great divide. In order for them to be intellectually honest with themselves, they must do it. Logically, however, the same attitude, orientation, bent of mind, and approach to scholarship that makes the retention of an inerrant Scripture impossible also alternately makes impossible the retention of the vicarious atonement, and putative guilt, the virgin birth, the physical resurrection, and miraculous supernaturalism.

 

Harold Lindsell, “An Historian Looks at Inerrancy,” in The Scripture Cannot Be Broken, ed. John MacArthur (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015), 25-26.

Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies for Satan’s Devices:

By all this we see, that the yielding to lesser sins, draws the soul to the committing of greater. Ah! how many in these days have fallen, first to have low thoughts of Scripture and ordinances, and then to slight Scripture and ordinances, and then to make a nose of wax of Scripture and ordinances, and then to cast off Scripture and ordinances, and then at last to advance and lift up themselves, and their Christ-dishonouring and soul-damning opinions, above Scripture and ordinances. Sin gains upon man’s soul by insensible degrees: Eccles. 10:13, ‘The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talking is mischievous madness.’ Corruption in the heart, when it breaks forth, is like a breach in the sea, which begins in a narrow passage, till it eat through, and cast down all before it. The debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended, and that may be done in a moment that may undo a man for ever. When a man hath begun to sin, he knows not where, or when, or how he shall make a stop of sin. Usually the soul goes on from evil to evil, from folly to folly, till it be ripe for eternal misery. Men usually grow from being naught to be very naught, and from very naught to be stark naught, and then God sets them at nought for ever.

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 20.

The Church as the Family of God

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Francis Schaeffer, John, Love, Sanctification

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Some rough draft notes on a lecture on the image of the church as a family.

The Church as the Family of God has two elements:

  1. It displays God visibly – particularly the love of God.
  2. It effects of the love of God.

1.  The Display of the Love of God

The Church is a witnessing community.

The Church exists to display the glory of God.

In The Community of Jesus, “The Church and God’s Glory”, Christopher W. Morgan notes five ways in which the Church displays God’s glory:

  1. Our salvation glorifies God by displaying the inexhaustible nature of his grace throughout the age to come.
  2. The very existence as the church glorifies God by displaying his wisdom.
  3. Our unity glorifies God by displaying his oneness.
  4. Our love glorifies God by displaying his love.
  5. Our holiness glorifies God by displaying his holiness. (232-233).

Interestingly it is household of God, the family of God imagery which Scripture uses to underscore and display God’s glory.

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Trying to Recreate Eden

18 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by in Art, Ecclesiastes, Francis Schaeffer

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While the Eames were experimenting with materials of the future, Kristen believes Tiki designers were trying to recreate Eden

Of course, Gauguin tried the same thing, and also failed:

Gauguin (1846–1903) did the same thing. He too was seeking for a universal. He went to Tahiti and there he, following the concepts of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), championed the idea of the noble savage. The savage was to be the return to the primitive, the child of the race, and it was here, going back in time, that he hoped to find the universal. So Gauguin began to paint the beauty of the women he found there. For a time he felt that he had successfully removed himself from the loss of innocence in civilization and that this was enough. But his last great painting tells the conclusion he came to eventually.

This painting is called What? Whence? Whither?2 and it now hangs in the Boston Museum of Art. The title is painted on a yellow corner on the upper left of the picture, thus making quite sure that anyone who looks at the work will understand its meaning. Elsewhere3 in discussing the painting, he tells us that we are to look at it the opposite way to normal—namely, from the right to the left. So at the right, where we look first, we see the same kind of beauty as in his other paintings. There is the same exotic symbolism, the same appeal to the sensuous in the concept of the noble savage. But by the time our eye has moved across the canvas to the far left, we see a very different end to the story. He began the painting in 1897 and finished it in 1898. This is what he says about it: “I have finished a philosophical work on this theme, comparable to the gospel … A figure lifts up its arms into the air and, astonished, looks at these two personages who dare to think of their destination.” A little farther on he continues:

“Whither? Close to the death of an old woman, a strange, stupid bird concludes: What?… The eternal problem that punishes our pride. O Sorrow, thou art my master. Fate, how cruel thou art, and always vanquished, I revolt.”4 When you look at the left-hand side of the picture you see three figures. The first is a young Tahitian woman in all her beauty. Beside her is a poor old woman dying, watched only by a monstrous bird, which has no counterpart in nature. When Gauguin finished this painting he too tried to commit suicide, though in fact he did not succeed.

Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There.

Solomon, too, tried:

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”
3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine-my heart still guiding me with wisdom-and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.
5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.
7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

There is not room in the universe for man

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Apologetics, Francis Schaeffer

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If you have never read it, you really should take the time to read Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There. He discusses the “line of despair” — the inability of modern human thought to both understand the particular and the general; to create a system of thought which incorporates all — including our “manishness” that stuff of us which makes us human and real. There is no way to construct a comprehensive and rational world view which does not rightly incorporate what God has done in Jesus Christ. If that sounds strange, then you should consider Schaeffer’s work.

In the book, he works through philosophy, art, theology and demonstrate how the despair crossed the 20th century. Here is a bit about Mondrian:

Mondrian painted his pictures and hung them on the wall. They were frameless so that they would not look like holes in the wall. As the pictures conflicted with the room, he had to make a new room. So Mondrian had furniture made for him, particularly by Rietveld, a member of the De Stijl group, and Van der Leck. There was an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in July–September 1951, called “De Stijl,” where this could be seen. As you looked, you were led to admire the balance between room and furniture, in just the same way as there is such a good balance in his individual pictures. But if a man came into that room, there would be no place for him. It is a room for abstract balance, but not for man. This is the conclusion modern man has reached, below the line of despair. He has tried to build a system out from himself, but this system has come to the place where there is not room in the universe for man.

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Touching the world that is.

31 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by in Francis Schaeffer

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God has created a real, external world. It is not an extension of His essence. That real, external world exists. God has also created man as a real, personal being, and he possesses a “mannishness” from which he can never escape. On the basis of their own worldview often these experience-seekers are neither sure the external world is there, nor that man as man is there. But I have come to the conclusion that despite their intellectual doubts, many of them have had a true experience of the reality of the external world that exists, and/or the “mannishness” that exists. They can do this precisely because this is how God has made man, in His own image, able to experience the real world and man’s “mannishness.” Thus they have hit upon something which exists, and it is neither nothing, nor is it God. We might sum up this third alternative by saying that when they experience the “redness” of the rose, they are having the experience of the external world, as is the farmer who plows his field. They are both touching the world that is.

Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There (Collected Works, vol. 1, pp. 23-24).

Introduction to Biblical Counseling, Week Four: The Heart

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Keep the heart, Proverbs

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The previous post in this series can be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/introduction-to-biblical-counseling-week-three-worship/

 Introduction to Biblical Counseling, Week Four: The Heart

Biblical counseling entails “heart” work: “What would you say if you were asked to summarize what it meant to be a Christian? When pressed by the teachers of the Law, Jesus says that all true obedience grows out of a transformed heart.”[1] Numerous examples could be given to demonstrate this statement.

The language of “heart” work or change has become a cliché of sorts among Christians. Now it is right that we should think of change as taking place within the heart; yet what we mean by “heart work” at times falls short of the biblical concept.

I.       A General Description of the Heart

A.  It goes without saying that while the word “heart” can refer to the physical organ in one’s chest, the change which must take place within the “heart” does not mean surgery on arteries and tissue.

B.  General nature of the heart.

1.   The “heart is the locus and organ of thought and the faculty of understanding. . .  The intellectual exercise of the mind is not really detached from the emotional and the modern dichotomy is artificial.”[2]

2.   For “heart” signifies the total inner self, a person’s hidden core of being (1 Pt 3:4), with which one communes, which one “pours out” in prayer, words, and deeds (Gn 17:17; Ps 62:8; Mt 15:18, 19). It is the genuine self, distinguished from appearance, public position, and physical presence (1 Sm 16:7; 2 Cor 5:12; 1 Thes 2:17). And this “heart-self” has its own nature, character, disposition, “of man” or “of beast” (Dn 7:4 KJV; 4:16; cf. Mt 12:33–37).[3]

3.   “Moderns connect some of the heart’s emotional-intellectual-moral functions with the brain and glands, but its functions are not precisely equivalent for three reasons.

“First, moderns do not normally associate the brain/mind with both rational and non-rational activities, yet the ancients did not divorce them (Ps. 20:4).

“Second, the heart’s reasoning, as well as its feeling, depends on its moral condition. Jesus said that “from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts” (Mark 7:21). Because the human heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9) and folly is bound up in the heart of a child (Prov. 22:15), the Spirit of God must give humans a new heart (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:26) through faith that purifies it (Acts 15:9; cf. Eph. 3:17).

“Third, moderns distinguish between the brain’s thoughts and a person’s actions, but the distinction between thought and action is inappropriate for heart. “The word is very near you,” says Moses to a regenerated Israel, “in your mouth and in your heart” (Deut. 30:14).”[4]

4.   The heart is the space of one’s emotional life:

a.   And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. Genesis 45:26 (ESV)

b.   And Hannah prayed and said,

             “My heart exults in the LORD;

                        my horn is exalted in the LORD.

             My mouth derides my enemies,

                  because I rejoice in your salvation. 1 Samuel 2:1

 

c.   When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 1 Samuel 28:5 (ESV)

d.   “Emotionally, the heart experiences intoxicated merriment (1 Sm 25:36), gladness (Is 30:29), joy (Jn 16:22), sorrow (Neh 2:2), anguish (Rom 9:2), bitterness (Prv 14:10), anxiety (1 Sm 4:13), despair (Eccl 2:20), love (2 Sm 14:1), trust (Ps 112:7), affection (2 Cor 7:3), lust (Mt 5:28), callousness (Mk 3:5), hatred (Lv 19:17), fear (Gn 42:28), jealousy (Jas 3:14), desire (Rom 10:1), discouragement (Nm 32:9), sympathy (Ex 23:9), anger (Dt 19:6 KJV), irresolution (2 Chr 13:7 KJV), and much besides.”[5]

5.   The heart is the locus of one’s intellectual and intentional activity.

a.   The heart has “motives” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

b.   It has intentions: “And his armor-bearer said to him, ‘Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul’” 1 Samuel 14:7 (ESV).

c.   It moves one to conduct: “21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord” Exodus 35:21–22 (ESV).

d.   Contrives evil: “ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” Acts 5:4 (ESV)

e.   The heart thinks: “4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” Matthew 9:4 (ESV).

f.    Meditates:

            5       I consider the days of old, the years long ago.

6       I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;

     let me meditate in my heart.”

                 Then my spirit made a diligent search: Psalm 77:5–6 (ESV)

 

6.   The information and affections within the heart give rise to outward manifestation.

a.   We see this frequently in Proverbs:

[A worthless person] with perverted heart devises evil

Continually sowing discord ….Proverbs 6:14 (ESV).[6]

 

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

but those who plan peace have joy. Proverbs 12:20; (ESV)

 

A prudent man conceals knowledge,

but the heart of fools proclaims folly. Proverbs 12: 23 (ESV)

 

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down,

but a good word makes him glad. Proverbs 12:25 (ESV).

 

The lips of the wise spread knowledge;

not so the hearts of fools. Proverbs 15:7 (ESV)

 

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,

but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. Proverbs 15:13 (ESV)

 

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious

and adds persuasiveness to his lips. Proverbs 16:23 (ESV)

 

As in water face reflects face,

so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 (ESV)

 

b.   Thus if the “heart” determines a matter, the entire self is said to be so determined, “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways” (Proverbs 7:25a).

c.   The state of the heart can affect one’s physical state: “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot” (Proverbs 14:30). “A joyful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).

d.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Yet, care must always be taken when evaluating the content of the heart on the basis of conduct, because the heart is capable of overt deceit (6:10; 23:7; 26:23-24). Longman writes of 14:10, “[N]o one can really knows what is going on emotionally insider another person.”[7]  And, “the heart of the king is unsearchable” (25:3[8]; see also, 23:7). The problem with evaluation of the heart exists even with self-evaluation: “To trust in one’s own heart . . .is the epitome of folly”.[9]

7.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Being the locus of information and font of desire (which as Edwards notes leads to will) the heart has the ability to determine both conduct and emotion (7:25: 6:14; 14:30; 17:22; 23:19; 23:26).

8.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1It is a place of cognitive determination (2:2[10]) and the place of desire (6:25 & 7:25; 23:17).  It is the locus of information, whether good or evil (2:10[11]; 3:3[12]; 4:21; 7:30; 14:33; 22:15; 26:24; 26: 25). The son is commanded to store wisdom in the heart (7:3). The information in the heart is not solely cognitive or moral: it also holds the affections (14:10; 24:17).

9.   A wise heart is one that carefully determines its conduct:

a.   “A heart devises wicked plans” (Proverbs 6:18).

b.   “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” Proverbs 15:28 (ESV)

c.  “The wise of heart is called discerning” (Proverbs 16:21).

10.  The foolish heart may be impulsive (“The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools.” Proverbs 15:7 (ESV). In contrast, “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” Proverbs 15:28 (ESV) ) There does also seem to be some deliberate deception possible for such a heart (Proverbs 7:10, “And behold the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart”).

11.  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1The heart exists in a recursive system: information flows outward from the heart into will and conduct; and, information flows inward from conduct and the environment: which information flow affects the state of the heart

a.   Proverbs 13:12 (ESV)

12  Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

 

b.   Proverbs 15:30 (ESV)

30  The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,

and good news refreshes the bones.

 

c.   Proverbs 27:9 (ESV)

9  Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

 

d.   Proverbs 27:11 (ESV)

11  Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

that I may answer him who reproaches me.

 

e.   Proverbs 31:11 (ESV)

11  The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

f.    The heart can be taught. Proverbs 2:2; 3:3, Deuteronomy 6:6.  The word of God stored in the heart transforms the life:

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 (ESV)[13]

 

II.      The Heart and God

A. The Heart is the Place of Moral Determination

1.   It can “think evil” (Matthew 9:4).

2.   It can be stubborn before God’s command (Jeremiah 18:12; 23:17).

3.   It can be haughty (Jeremiah 48:29).

4.   It can contain idols (Ezekiel 14:4 & 7).

5.   It can be faithfully set before the Lord (Psalm 112:7-8).

6.   It can be hardened. Exodus 4:21.

7.   It can be gentle and lowly. Matthew 11:29.

8.   It can be hard and impenitent. Romans 2:5.

9.   It can be blameless and holy. 1 Thessalonians 3:3.

10. It can be self-deceived. James 1:26.

11.  It can be deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9.[14]

12. The conscience can strike the heart. 1 Samuel 24:5. The men who heard Peter’s sermon were “cut to the heart”. Acts 2:37.

B.   The heart is the source of good. Luke 6:45; 8:15.

C.   The heart is also the source of evils:

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Mark 7:14–22 (ESV)

D. The heart is the place of interaction with God.

1.   One believes “with the heart”. Romans 10:9.

2.   It is the record of evidence used for judgment:

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Romans 2:15–16 (ESV)

Francis Schaeffer illustrates it thus:

Let me use an illustration again that I have used in other places. If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which this child as he grew bound other men, the moral precepts might be much lower than the biblical law, but they would still be moral judgments. Eventually each person comes to that great moment when he stands before God as judge. Suppose, then, that God simply touched the tape recorder button and each man heard played out in his own words all those statements by which he had bound other men in moral judgment. He could hear it going on for years—thousands and thousands of moral judgments made against other men, not aesthetic judgments, but moral judgments. Then God would simply say to the man, though he had never heard the Bible, now where do you stand in the light of your own moral judgments. The Bible points out in the passage quoted above that every voice would be stilled. All men would have to acknowledge that they have deliberately done those things which they knew to be wrong. Nobody could deny it.[15]

 

3.  The heart does not exist in a hermetic naturalistic system. While the creature, in all manifestations, does interact with the heart, so does the Creator: The heart “lies open” before God (Proverbs 15:11).  God controls the heart, and thus controls behavior (Proverbs 16:1; 19:21; 21:1).  God responds to and judges the heart (Proverbs 17:3). As it reads in Proverbs 16:5: “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” The heart itself can foolishly “rage against the Lord” (Proverbs 19:3).

4.   One fundamental assumption of Scripture is that the human heart is constantly open to influences from above and from below. God would “lay hold of [human] hearts” (Ez 14:5), “incline hearts” to his truth and ways (Ps 119:36), “put into … hearts to carry out his purposes,” both for judgment and for salvation (Rv 17:17). The alternative to divine “possession” is the demonic influence that can drag the heart down to utmost evil (Jn 13:2; Acts 5:3). The same heart that can be “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9) can also become the shrine of divine love and the Spirit (Rom 5:5).[16]

5.   “In more than three hundred cases where the word refers to the human heart it has a spiritual significance and refers to a person’s relationship with God. This does not mean that in its religious sense the heart has no relationship to a person’s thoughts, intentions, and feelings, but rather that these are motivated and driven by the heart, which is the religious point of departure for all of human life. The religious use of heart in the Old Testament, however, expresses not only directedness toward God, but often also appears in the context of turning away from him (e.g., Deut. 8:14, 17; 9:4; 2 Chr. 26:16, KJV; Isa. 9:9; 10:12, KJV; 47:8; Ezek. 31:10; Hos. 13:6; Obad. 3). As the source of virtually every manifestation of human religion and as that point in the person to which the revelation of God is ultimately directed, the human heart forms the focal point of God’s dealings with the person.

“This Old Testament meaning of heart is continued in the New Testament, particularly the Gospels (Matt. 6:21; 15:18–19; 22:37; Luke 6:45; John 14:1, 27) and the letters of Paul. As in the Old Testament, the New Testament word for heart (Gk. kardía) can indicate a person’s mind, will, and feelings, but Paul’s use of the term in reference to the spiritual or religious quality of human life expresses the idea that all of these facets of personhood are spiritually determined (cf. 2 Cor. 3:14ff., KJV; RSV “mind”; Phil. 4:7). Paul explicitly declares the connection between the heart and God, saying that God’s revelation bears witness to or within the human heart as the true center of human existence (cf. Rom. 2:14ff.). Just as the heart or core of a person’s being is the recipient of divine revelation, so it is the subject of the response, positive or negative, one makes to God. With the heart one believes (Rom. 10:10), desires (1:24), obeys (6:17), and performs the will of God (Eph. 6:6). The redeemed heart is the dwelling place of Christ (3:17) and of his peace (Col. 3:15) and love (Rom. 5:5).

“The use of the word heart in all of these contexts suggests that on the deepest level human beings are guided and determined from one central point which represents their true humanity, the heart. This is true both of their response to the revelation of God and of their responsibility for their own thinking, willing, and acting.”[17]

E.   The heart is the place of temptation:

Whilst it knocks at the door we are at liberty; but when any temptation comes in and parleys with the heart, reasons with the mind, entices and allures the affections, be it a long or a short time, do it thus insensibly and imperceptibly, or do the soul take notice of it, we “enter into temptation.”[18]

III.    Some Counseling Observations

A. The heart, in some manner, may be known.

1.   As shown above, the heart does exhibit itself in overt behavior and affections.

2.   The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Proverbs 20:5 (ESV)

3.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Yet, care must always be taken when evaluating the content of the heart from objective conduct, because the heart is capable of overt deceit (6:10[19]; 23:7; 26:23-24).  Longman writes of 14:10, “[N]o one can really know what is going on emotionally insider another person.”[20]  And, “the heart of the king is unsearchable” (25:3; see also, 23:7).  The problem with evaluation of the heart exists even with self-evaluation: “To trust in one’s own heart . . .is the epitome of folly”.[21]

4.   When we are presented with sin in others, we are liable to distortion ourselves:

(1.)   For we have the ground of the matter in ourselves.—“Hearts deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know thy wickedness? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins,” &c. (Jer. 17:9, 10.) As if none beside the Lord knew the bottomless depths and deceits of the heart! In the heart are those lusts and affections, that feed and foment all the hypocrisy in the world,—pride, vain-glory, concupiscence, carnal wisdom: were it not for these, there would not be an hypocrite living.[22]

5.   Jeremiah 17:9-10 explains that the evil of the heart makes it truly unknowable to any but God:

These two verses, though expressing different ideas, belong together. Taken together they form the center of the entire unit from v 1 through v 13. The contrast these two verses speak are the very contrast of the entire unit: deceitful, sinful humanity in contrast to a holy and just God. Verse 9 is probably a proverbial saying or riddle that looks back to the previous unit, to v 5, the one cursed who turns his heart from Yahweh. It also looks further back to v 1, where Judah’s sin is inscribed on her heart. Indeed, the heart is deceitful and incurably sick. (On the sick heart, cf. Jer. 8:18, where the reference is to heartsickness from grief over Judah’s sin.) Because it is so deceitful, the poet wonders who may know it? From human perspective it may seem that no one can know the inscrutable heart of a person who is deliberately deceitful. Yet the answer is swift in coming. Yahweh knows! Yahweh is the one who searches the heart and tests the inward parts of humankind (cf. ובחנתלבי, Jer. 12:3). He knows the heart and gives to each according to the fruit of his/her deeds. This reference to fruit again links this passage with the preceding one (v 8). Another link with the first section of this unit may be seen in the repetition of the word “give.” Yahweh who had given the inheritance to his people (v 4) will now give to each according to his way, according to the fruit of his/her deeds (v 10). A link is also provided within this passage for the confession in vv 14–18. Although the heart is incurable (v 9), a source of healing is available, Yahweh himself (v 14). In one sense, the hope of healing in v 14 answers the incurable nature of the heart’s sickness precisely as Yahweh’s searching of the heart (v 10) answers the question of its unknowable qualities (v 9).[23]

B.   The content of the heart is determined by the relationship one has at the level of his heart toward God.

1.   By nature the heart is subject to corruption. Note that continuity of the corruption of the human heart before and after the flood: Genesis 6:5 & 8:21.

2.   The corruption is so great that only a new heart can transform the human being (Jeremiah 13:23). This is the great blessing promised in the New Covenant.

17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18 And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 11:17–21 (ESV)

3.   God must write the law upon the heart of those redeemed under the New Covenant.

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)

4.      God pours out his love into our hearts:

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (ESV)

5.      Christ will dwell in our hearts:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14–19 (ESV)

6.      We are in the process of being renewed in that we have been rescued from our previous “hardness of heart” and “deceitful desires”:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.[24] 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:17–24 (ESV)[25]

7.      The renovation of the heart/mind (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23) is the current process of transformation:

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:10 (ESV)

This process of renewing our mind will be seen in future lessons.[26]

8. It is God who brings forth the transformation of the heart:

Psalm 51:7–10 (ESV)

7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8  Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9  Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

 

9. The human being brings to God a broken heart:

a. Psalm 51:16–17 (ESV)

16  For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

 

b. Calvin explains of this verse:

I might observe, that David is not speaking at this time of the meritorious condition by which pardon is procured, but, on the contrary, asserting our absolute destitution of merit by enjoining humiliation and contrition of spirit, in opposition to everything like an attempt to render a compensation to God. The man of broken spirit is one who has been emptied of all vain-glorious confidence, and brought to acknowledge that he is nothing. The contrite heart abjures the idea of merit, and has no dealings with God upon the principle of exchange. Is it objected, that faith is a more excellent sacrifice that that which is here commended by the Psalmist, and of greater efficacy in procuring the Divine favor, as it presents to the view of God that Savior who is the true and only propitiation? I would observe, that faith cannot be separated from the humility of which David speaks. This is such a humility as is altogether unknown to the wicked. They may tremble in the presence of God, and the obstinacy and rebellion of their hearts may be partially restrained, but they still retain some remainders of inward pride. Where the spirit has been broken, on the other hand, and the heart has become contrite, through a felt sense of the anger of the Lord, a man is brought to genuine fear and self-loathing, with a deep conviction that of himself he can do or deserve nothing, and must be indebted unconditionally for salvation to Divine mercy. That this should be represented by David as constituting all which God desires in the shape of sacrifice, need not excite our surprise. He does not exclude faith, he does not condescend upon any nice division of true penitence into its several parts, but asserts in general, that the only way of obtaining the favor of God is by prostrating ourselves with a wounded heart at the feet of his Divine mercy, and supplicating his grace with ingenuous confessions of our own helplessness.[27]

 

C.   Keeping the heart. Since the heart controls the life, one must take care to protect the heart.  Hence, the command in Proverb 3:25 (ESV), “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

 

O God, Who, the more we hide our sins, the more bringest them into open day; Who out of doubt dost bring certainty, out of error, truth; visit us with the dew of Thy mercy: so putting out all our misdeeds, as to make us a new heart by the infusion of Thy Holy Ghost, to the end that we, rejoicing in such an indweller, may have our mouth opened for the declaration of Thy praise. Amen. Through[28]

 

 

[1]Timothy S. Lane, Paul David Tripp, How People Change, 195.

 

[2]Michael Fox, Proverbs 1‑9 (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 109.

[3]Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 939.

[4]Walter A. Elwell and Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library; Logos Library System (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996).

[5]Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 939.

[6] SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1  Respecting 6:14, Longman (Proverbs) writes, “The heart is the core of a person from which emanates all actions, motives, and speech.  The heart of an evil person is bent on evil” (Longman, 174). 

[7] Longman, 299.

[8] “It may also warn them about trying to psychoanalyze the monarch” (Longman, 451).

[9] SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Longman, 496-497.

[10] Patrick Simon paraphrases this command in part with, “[W]ith sincere affection applying thy mind to understanding they duty” (Patrik Simon, The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with Arguments of Each Chapter (London: M. Flesher, 1683), 23).  Proverbs 2:2 presents an interesting exegetical problem: The heart is elsewhere credited with acting, desiring, planning et cetera (examples of such usage will be provided below).  In 2:2, the son is told to move his heart toward some end.  What then is to incline the heart if it is not the heart, itself?  Longman explains of this verse, “The heart represents what we would call the basic personality or character of a person.  Though ‘heart’ stands for the whole inner person, on occasions the cognitive. . . . More than the simple act of hearing is involved in the reception of the father’s teaching; one must be predisposed toward wisdom to benefit from it.”  Longman, 119-120.  It seems that the heart must incline itself to respond to this command.  Perhaps the best way to understand this command is to understand the desire, hence will is to cause the heart to incline its cognitive faculties.

[11] By incorporating information into the heart, it “will become an integral part of the son’s character” (Longman, 122; see, also, William Arnott, Laws From Heaven for Life on Earth (New York: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873), 67).

[12] Moses Stuart, A Commentary on the Book of Proverbs (Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1870), 167.  Here the “heart” “stand[s] for his core personality” (Longman, 131).

[13] See the sermon of Thomas Manton on Psalm 119:11, also available on the website.

[14] 17:9–10 Verse 9 is another wisdom saying. It contains an emphatic denial of a popular belief that people are basically good (cf. Isa 64:6; Rom 3:23). Judah’s problem of sin is a common one, extending to the whole fallen human race. The word ʿāqōb, “deceitful,” is elsewhere translated “stained” (Hos 6:8) and “rough ground” (Isa 40:4). A similar word ʿōqbāh, “deception,” describes Jehu’s tricks by which he slaughtered the servants of Baal (2 Kgs 10:19). The root occurs first in Gen 3:15 in the word for “heel” (ʿāqēb), where Satan would attack Eve’s messianic offspring (cf. Pss 41:9; 89:51). Deceitfulness is said to be characteristic of Satan and his followers (John 8:44). The same word, ʿăqēs, is translated “ambush” in Josh 8:13, describing Joshua’s strategy of deceit by which he conquered Ai (cf. Job 18:9). The name of Jacob, the great deceiver, is also from the same root (Gen 25:26; 27:36). The human heart has an unlimited capacity for wickedness and deceit so that human resources are incapable of dealing with it (Mark 7:21–23; Gal 5:19–21). The only remedy is a radical change, nothing less than rebirth (John 3:7; 2 Cor 5:17).

F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations, vol. 16, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 174.

[15] Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: a Christian Worldview, vol. 4 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 41–42.

God is fit to govern the world upon the account of his wisdom and knowledge.—His “eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” He observes all the motions and ways of men. He understands what hath been, is, and shall be. “Hell is naked before him;” (Job 26:6;) how much more, earth! His eye is upon the conclave of Rome, the cabals of princes, and the closets of particular persons. Excellently doth David set forth the divine omniscience: “Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before.” (Psalm 139:2–5.) He knows not only what is done by man, but also what is in man; all his goodness, and all his wickedness; all his contrivances, purposes, and designs. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9.) Do you ask, “Who?” The answer is ready,—“Jehovah.” He “searcheth the heart;” he “trieth and possesseth the reins.” Those are dark places, far removed from the eyes of all the world: but God’s “eyes are like a flame of fire;” they carry their own light with them, and discover those recesses, run through all the labyrinths of the heart; they look into each nook and corner of it, and see what lurks there, what is doing there. O, what manner of persons should we be! with what diligence should we keep our hearts, since God observes them with so much exactness! Men may take a view of the practices of others; but God sees their principles, and to what they do incline them. Yea, he knows how to order and command the heart; not only how to affright it with terrors, and to allure it with kindnesses, and persuade it with arguments, but likewise how to change and alter and mend it by his power. He can not only debilitate and enfeeble it, when set upon evil; but also confirm and fix and fortify it, when carried out to that which is good. “The hearts of kings are in the hands of the Lord, and he turneth them as the rivers of water.” (Prov. 21:1.)

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 3 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 325.

[16] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 939.

[17]Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 471.

[18] John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 97.

 

[19] “The reference to her ‘guarded heart’ is difficult.  It may point out that though her actions are outgoing, her motives are hidden.   She is loud, but one does not really know what is going on inside of her since she keeps it hidden.  It points out just how dangerous she is” (Longman, 189). 

 

[20] Longman, 299.

 

[21] Longman, 496-497.

[22] “How Shall Hypocrisy be Discoverable and Curable” by Rev. Andrew Bromhall, in James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 538.

 

[23]Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1–25, vol. 26, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 227–228.

[24]  Mind is an equivalent of “heart” in many instances:

 

The heart’s connection with thinking in Hebrew thought is so close that modern translations such as the RSV frequently translate lēḇ or lēḇāḇ by “mind” or “understanding” (Job 12:3; Prov. 16:9; Jer. 7:31).

 

Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 471.

 

It was essentially the whole man, with all his attributes, physical, intellectual and psychological, of which the Hebrew thought and spoke, and the heart was conceived of as the governing centre for all of these. It is the heart which makes a man, or a beast, what he is, and governs all his actions (Pr. 4:23). Character, personality, will, mind are modern terms which all reflect something of the meaning of ‘heart’ in its biblical usage.

 

B. O. Banwell, “Heart,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 456.

[25] Contrary to much biblical counseling literature, Paul is not commanding the Ephesians to “put off the old man” and “put on the new man”. As explained by Hoehner in his commentary on Ephesians, Paul is stating that the old man was put off at conversion (Colossians 3:10). Thus, in the present one is being renewed in the spirit of the mind; Romans 12:2. The heart is undergoing renovation:

 

 “that you have laid aside.” The verb apoqhmi means to “put away, to store” or in the middle

voice it can be rendered, “to put away from, to lay aside” or “to put off” a garment. . . . In the

present context it has the idea of putting off and laying aside with the contrast in verse 24 of

putting on the new person. The aorist middle infinitive has the idea of an inceptive act that may

have reference to conversion. Also, the lexical verbs of putting off and putting on of clothing

emphasizes accomplished events rather than the process of activities. The middle voice

emphasizes that the subject receives the benefits of his or her action. It is not reflexive idea, for

the person could not do it by his or her own strength. Hence, believers were taught that they

have put off or have laid aside the old person at conversion.

..

The old person, found in Rom 6:6 and Col 3:9, is the preconversion unregenerate person. Paul

then is teaching that, having been taught in him, believers should know that the old person

according to the former lifestyle was laid aside at the time of their faith in the one who taught

them, namely, Christ.

 

Harold E. Hoehner, Ephesians, An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007),

603 & 605.

[26]

Paul stresses the believer’s solidarity with Christ. Since a believer is “in Christ” and since Christ is in heaven, the believer is “in the heavenlies” (en tois epouraniois). Accordingly, God has blessed the believer “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). This precise phrase occurs only five times in the New Testament, and only in Ephesians (1:3; 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12). The believer’s heavenly blessings depend on Christ’s heavenly session (Eph. 1:20) and the spiritual union each believer shares “with Christ” (Eph. 2:6). God does not merely apply the ministry of Christ to believers. He sees believers with Christ wherever he is—and he is now in heaven. Believers are commanded to adopt an earthly lifestyle of dying to sin and living to righteousness (Rom. 6:4), and to set their minds on the heavenly reality that will soon be revealed in Christ (Col. 4:1–4). In other words, believers should live consistently with who, and where, they really are.

 

Walter A. Elwell and Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library; Logos Library System (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996).

[27] John Calvin, Psalms, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Ps 51:17.

* Mozarabic.

[28] J. M. Neale and R. F. Littledale, eds., A Commentary on the Psalms from Primitive and Mediæval Writers: Psalm 39 to Psalm 80, vol. 2 (London; New York: Joseph Masters; Pott and Amery, 1868), 180.

Church and a Hostile State: 1 Peter 2:13-17.2

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in 1 Peter, Apologetics, Francis Schaeffer, N.T. Wright

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Some longer pieces: Schaeffer, Wright, Harnick

 

A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer

Schaeffer writing in 1981 looked at the change in the culture, law, politics that had taken place during the 20th Century  and wrote, “each thing being a part, a symptom, of a much larger problem” (423). The shift took place at the level of worldview, the effects ran through the rest of society.

He lays a great deal of the trouble on the failure of the Christian Church to have a comprehensive view of spirituality, “True spirituality covers all of reality” (424). When non-Christians read that sentence, they quickly think that Schaeffer is calling for a theocracy. He adamantly did not:

First, we must make definite that we are in no way talking about any kind of theocracy. Let me say that with great emphasis….we must continually emphasize the fact that we are not talking about some kind, or any kind of theocracy. 485

The particular battle Schaeffer saw pitted the Enlightenment (and its children up to the present) versus a Christian worldview. It is important to understand Schaeffer means and does not mean.[1]

Schaeffer is not contesting reason, logic or science.  However, those holding a different viewpoint may very mean some slightly different things about such matters.

The Christian worldview understands human beings to be deliberated created persons, made in the image of God. As such, their life has meaning and purpose. Since the universe is the result of God’s action, the universe is necessarily intelligible. Since God is a God of order we should expect and do find a high degree of regularity in the function of the universe. Thus, the universe and human beings are reasonable, subject to logical examination, capable of comprehension (thus, subject to “scientific” inquiry).

Indeed, when one denies the aspects of a Christian worldview, reason, logic and science become intellectually incoherent (see, for example, Poythress, Redeeming Science).  Schaeffer explains the effect:

Since their concept of man is mistaken, their concept of society and of law is a mistake, and they no sufficient base for either for society or law.

They have reduced Man to even less than his natural finiteness by seeing him only as a complex arrangement of molecules, made complex by blind chance. Instead of seeing him as something great who is significant even in his sinning, they see Man in his essence only as an intrinsically competitive animal …. (428)

Michael Ruse said something similar in an essay when asking what a living organism is for:

So what’s a Stegosaur for? We can ask what adaptive function the plates on its back served, as good Darwinian scientists. But the beast itself? It’s not for anything, it just is — in all its decorative, mysterious, plant-munching glory.

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/does-life-have-a-purpose/ Now, “glory” is an interesting word, due to its relationship to meaning and purpose as described in the Bible. Ruse, being a very smart man, probably intended the allusion.  In any event, Ruse has to say that something is or is not. Which forms an interesting basis for law, politics and conduct.

Schaeffer puts these two worldviews, Enlightenment Humanism and Christianity into the focus of a religious conflict – both are questions about what life means. (Ruse discusses whether humanism is a religion here, http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/michael-ruse-humanism-religion/).

Before we go further, I think that it beyond cavil that one’s understanding of the nature of humanity will necessarily effect one’s view of law and politics.  For example, the many public debates of sexual ethics presuppose arguments about one is and what sexuality is for. If a human being is matter in motion, then physical sensation – I suppose – -is a good enough reason for saying it’s okay. Particularly if the only “good” (it is bizarre to speak of a “good” in a context where meaning is unavailable) is I like it or I don’t.

The Christian argument about sexual ethics rests on a fundamental different platform, that is, there are values and considerations beyond physical sensation and those values are more morally significant than nerve endings and brain chemicals (however pleasant and desirable such brain chemicals may be).

The dominant culture of the West now (Schaeffer was watching the tide sweep more quickly than it had) may be put thus:

We live in a secularized society and in a secularized, sociological law. By sociological law we mean law that has no fixed base but law in which a group of people decides what is sociological good for society in a given a moment (437).

Now, it is fair to say, that those operating within this worldview look at other positions and would say, You’re doing the same thing. Your position is as arbitrary as mine.  The trouble here is that such a position leads only to tyranny. Since there is no “right” position from which to argue, we end up with power as being the ultimate determinant:

The law, and especially the courts, is the vehicle to force this total humanistic way of thinking upon an entire population (442).

This is the strange problem of the indeterminacy of language. If even the words can put to any use, then all that is left is force because violence refuses to be relativized. One is either dead or not.

Schaeffer faults the Christian church for taking on the Enlightenment dichotomy of public and private, which ended in a Platonic retreat of the Christian church into a purely other worldliness (451).

N.T. Wright (who seems to occupy a different political space than Schaeffer) explains the matter thus:

The problem should be clear to anyone who knows the world of the first century—or for that matter any century until the eighteenth, and any country outside so-called Western civilization. It is simply this: the implicit split between ‘religion’ and ‘politics’ is a rank anachronism, and we read it into the NT only if we wish not to hear anything the NT is saying, not only about what we call ‘the state’ but about a great many other things as well. No first-century Jew (and no twentieth-century Arab, or Pole, or Sri Lankan) could imagine that the worship of their god and the organization of human society were matters that related only at a tangent. If we are to hear what the NT has to say on what we call ‘the state’, we must be prepared to put our categories back into the melting-pot and have them stirred around a little. We cannot read a few ‘timeless truths’ about the ‘state’ off the surface of the NT and hope to escape with our world view unscathed. Hence the revision of the title of this article, and the inverted commas around the suspect word, which belongs precisely in the eighteenth century. What would a first-century Jew or Christian have made of the modern notion of ‘state’? Not a lot, I suspect.

N. T. Wright, “The New Testament and the ‘state’,” Themelios: Volume 16, No. 1, October/November 1990 (1990): 11.

As Schaeffer seeks to understand the Christian response, he begins with the proposition that God comes before the State, “God has ordained the state as a delegated authority; it is not autonomous” (468). Since the State has a limited scope, the State can become illegitimate as an authority, “The bottom line is that at a certain point there is simply not only the right, but the duty, to disobey the state” (469).

Relying largely on Samuel Rutherford’s Lex Rex (the law is king), Schaeffer sets out a three tiered response to the state overstepping, 1) defend oneself, likely by protest; 2) flee; 3) “force, if necessary, to defend oneself” (475.  It is the third point that a Christian pacifist would reject):

It follows from Rutherford’s thesis that citizen’s have a moral obligation to resist unjust and tyrannical government. While we must always be subject to the office of the magistrate, we are not to be subject to the man in that office who commands that which is contrary to the Bible (474).

Now the greatest weight must be upon disobedience short of force. Indeed, any Christian would necessarily concede that at some point the government must be rejected when it comes to the matter of sin:

18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. Acts 4:18–21 (ESV)

Schaeffer writes, “If there is no final place for civil disobedience, then the government has been made autonomous [from God], and as such, it has been put in the place of the Living God….And that point is exactly where the early Christians performed their acts of civil disobedience even when it cost them their lives” (491).

In the end, Schaeffer commends to Christians the responsibility of interacting on the level of politics and law. The Christian life cannot be wholly abstracted from the “real world”.

N.T. Wright (The New Testament and the State), makes a very similar point about how we must read the NT accounts.  As quoted above, a First Century Jew would have no idea what we are talking about in secluding religion from the rest of life.

Wright explains that the Jews were not looking for a Kingdom of God in some ethereal realm, but rather a God who ruled in time and space:

First-century Jews had a slogan which encapsulated their aspiration for a new order in which Israel would be liberated. Their God, already sovereign of the world de jure, would become so de facto. The rightful King would become King indeed (12).

Wright argues that when Jesus spoke he was not just speaking “spiritual” or “political” but comprehensively. When one looks to Jesus’ life, one cannot simply say that Jesus avoided all politics – he moved in a through a very politically charged environment.

Jesus, I have argued elsewhere, believed two things which gave him an interpretative grid for understanding his own vocation as leading to a violent and untimely death.13 First, he believed himself called to announce to Israel that her present way of life, whose focal point was resistance against Rome and whose greatest symbol was the temple, was heading in exactly the wrong direction. Down that road lay ruin—the wrath of Rome, the wrath of God. Second, he believed himself called to take Israel’s destiny upon himself, to be Israel-in-God’s-plan. What happens as the story reaches its climax, and Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives looking across at the temple, and beyond it to an ugly hill just outside the city wall to the west, is that the two beliefs fuse into one. He will be Israel—by taking Israel’s destiny, her ruin, her destruction, the devastation of the temple, on to himself. He will be the point where the exile reaches its climax, as the pagan authorities execute Israel’s rightful King. Only so can the kingdom come on earth (in socio-political reality) as it is in heaven (in the perfect will and plan of the Father). From this perspective, to say that Jesus’ death itself was a ‘political’ act cannot be to divorce it (against the grain of all first-century Judaism) from its ‘theological’ implications. On the cross politics and religion, as well as love and justice and a host of other abstractions, meet and merge. Only from the perspective of the cross, shattering as it was to Jesus’ followers then as it should be now, can any view of politics, and hence of the ‘state’, claim to be Christian.

N. T. Wright, “The New Testament and the ‘state’,” Themelios: Volume 16, No. 1, October/November 1990 (1990): 13. Thus, when Jesus tells Pilate “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), Jesus means that his kingdom is rooted and grounded in this world – but rather has it authority from elsewhere.

            The solution here is not the abolition of the contrary powers in the world (which manifest themselves in various real life social structures) but in the reconciliation of these powers to God in Jesus Christ. The confrontation with those powers “will inevitably produce trouble for the announcer.”

            Now we must realize, that these powers were defeated

They include the idols by whose worship humans are reinforced in prejudice about race, gender, class. They include the ‘forces’, as we would call them, which operate through the Herods and Pilates of this world, so that sometimes it is impossible to tell whether Paul is actually referring to the human agents of power or the powers that work through human agents, or, more likely, both (1 Cor. 2:8). They thus include the ‘forces’ that put Jesus to death, and that were thereby duped, shown to have overreached themselves, defeated and led away in the divine triumphal procession (Col. 2:14f.).

N. T. Wright, “The New Testament and the ‘state’,” Themelios: Volume 16, No. 1, October/November 1990 (1990): 14. 

            However, the final completion of God’s work is not yet complete. Our position is still betwixt and between.  Therefore, we must live within a civil order which is maintained in part by a government. And while the government has a God-appointed role, the government is not absolute.  “Submission” cannot mean unquestioned obedience.  It does mean confrontation of evil and the proclamation of Christ. It may the “powers” will seek to or even kill us:

Among these ways will be, I think, a full outworking of the implications of Philippians 2:10–11. If it is true that the church is called to announce to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord, then there will be times when the world will find this distinctly uncomfortable. The powers that be will need reminding of their responsibility, more often perhaps as the Western world moves more and more into its post-Christian phase, where, even when churchgoing remains strong, it is mixed with a variety of idolatries too large to be noticed by those who hold them, and where human rulers are more likely to acknowledge the rule of this or that ‘force’ than the rule of the creator. And if the church attempts this task of reminding, of calling the powers to account for their stewardship, it will face the same charges, and perhaps the same fate, as its Lord. It is at that point that decisions have to be made in all earnestness, at that point that idolatry exacts its price. But it is here, I think, that the NT’s picture of the gospel and the world of political life finds one at least of its contemporary echoes.

N. T. Wright, “The New Testament and the ‘state’,” Themelios: Volume 16, No. 1, October/November 1990 (1990): 16.

            Harnick in fascinating commentary on1 Peter (if nothing else, he constantly makes me think), notes that the worldly powers described by Peter are not perfect mirrors of God’s will.  Peter refers to these people with the phrase “the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Peter 2:15).  Harnick picks up on Peter’s reference to the Christian being “free”:

Peter calls us to a way of life and a political practice that operate completely beneath and simultaneously completely beyond their rule.

He goes onto speak of the Church’s revolutionary power:

But the true revolutionary power of the church does not consist in its ability to be an effective power in the world, to bring about changes in history, whether in collusion with or in opposition to existing power. Its revolutionary sociopolitical power lies rather in its union with, imitation of, and testimony to the crucified sovereign who has already invaded the world and wrought the decisive revolution, the reconciliation of the world.

Thus, when we live in the world, we do not need to concern ourselves with the Emperor’s agenda. We are in obedience to the Lord, not to the emperor  — even when in submission to the emperor. “Its meaning is that men have encountered God, and are thereby compelled to leave the judgment to Him.”

            Harnick, following Yoder, sees this is a “revolutionary subordination” – and that Bonhoeffer compromised in the plot to kill Hitler.

 

[1] An necessary element of Schaeffer’s thinking is that only by positing a creating God and a human soul can any space be made for freedom and democracy. Indeed, democracy presupposes a moral equivalence in value for all human beings such that the vote of A matters as much as the vote of B. It becomes impossible to ground that proposition in world where “What is is right.”

Hebrews 13: Brotherly Love and Acceptable Worship (Men’s Breakfast CBC December 8, 2012)

08 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in Francis Schaeffer, Hebrews, Obedience, Preaching

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(Following are the notes for the monthly men’s breakfast lesson at Calvary Bible Church. As with other lessons, the oral presentation contains essentially the same doctrine, albeit with substantially different presentation. This year’s lessons have been on the book of Hebrews.   They can be found here:

http://www.calvarybiblechurch.org/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=180007708&cpage_id=180032323)

Chapter 13 seems like an appendix to the rest of Hebrews. Some commentators have argued that it is not really part of the letter and was some one page letter glued onto the back of a beautiful sermon.  It certainly begins strange. After the mountain tops of rhetoric; after theology which ascends into heaven itself and uncovers the mystery of the cross, we find some brief seemingly simple commands. It seems too plain to even rightly be part of such a letter. Be kind, be generous, be faithful to your marriage, be respectful of your church leaders, pray for us.

I must confess that as I began to study for this lesson, I had trouble seeing the way in which these commands attached to the rest of the letter. And yet, as I studied and meditated and prayed the connection between the parts became clear.

I learned that rather than being an appendage to the whole, this final chapter in a manner is the point of the book.  The book exists to teach us doctrine so that it can teach us how to worship. The book teaches about Jesus, so that we can glory God and enjoy him forever.

Let me show you. First, I want you to see the overall doctrinal purpose of the letter – and then how that doctrine ties into the practice. In the second part of this exhortation, I will speak with you briefly about the content and manner of our worship.

First: A Call to Worship

At the end of the fifth chapter of Hebrews, comes a section which almost seems a joke. The writer explains that he cannot go further in setting forth doctrine because those who received the letter “had become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews 5:11-12).  Can this be serious?

Hebrews contains perhaps the most difficult doctrine in the entire Bible. Here we read of the divinity and humanity of Jesus, his work as the true high priest, the relationship between the old and new covenants, the true purpose of the Temple, the mystery of Melchizedek, the mystery of the cross, the nature of the church, the necessity of faith, the kingdom to come. The short sermon — for it is indeed a sermon — acts like a commentary on the entire rest of the Bible. To read the book of Hebrews one must drink in the entire Scripture at a gulp. There is nothing elementary about it.

Seeing that the book contains such difficulty, many Christians will prefer to leave it alone. After all, “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). And, we will not be saved by a final theology exam given at the gates of heaven. If I know the contents of a gospel tract, then I know enough to be saved.

But look back again at chapter 5. The reason why those who received the letter could not take more “solid food” is because they had not lived as God required, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

There is a motion of the Christian life: First, we learn. What we learn affects our desires. What we desire affects our conduct. Our conduct itself changes our heart and thus gives us more capacity to learn – and so the process continues like a system of gears, each which pushes on the other.

But that still leaves one with the excuse that I don’t need to learn more to be saved, and I don’t need to behave to be saved, so why bother anyway? I may not be perfect, but I am better than most people. I may not know everything about Jesus, but I know Jesus loves me. Why struggle so hard with this book?

Turn to chapter 8: verse one identifies for us the purpose of the book of Hebrews:  “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, and the true tent that the Lord set up, not man” (Hebrews 8:1-2). There you will find the central doctrine of the book of Hebrews: Jesus is the true high priest.

As we read through chapter 8, we learn the effect of this change of high priest: It came about as part of the institution of the New Covenant. Throughout Hebrews, we learn that the Old Covenant – that is, the Old Testament – was temporary: it operated with temporary high priests, who worked in a man-made temple, and offered sacrifices repeatedly – and yet these sacrifices never saved anyone of sin, “But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4).

But in Jesus, the weakness of the Old Covenant passes – for Jesus is in every way superior to the Old Covenant.  That old covenant was merely a picture of the true covenant to come: As Paul writes in Galatians 3:24, the old covenant – which Paul references as “the law” “was our guardian – or school master – until Christ came”. That Old Covenant could not remedy sin, but it did instruct until the true High Priest came into the world to offer the sacrifice which could redeem and reconcile us to God.

This does not mean that the law of God has vanished.  In the New Covenant, the law is no longer written on tablets of stone.  In the New Covenant instituted by Jesus, the law is written in us:

Hebrews 8:10–11 (ESV)

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

Hebrews 2 explains that the promise and command of the Dominion over the creation given to Adam is now fulfilled in Jesus, the one whom even angels worship. This same Jesus is also our brother and our high priest:

Hebrews 2:17–18 (ESV)

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

 You see, all the various strands, promises, problems, of the Bible finally come together in Jesus: Jesus undoes the damage of the First Adam. Jesus takes up the story of Israel and the Old Covenant and brings into the world the New Covenant which brings the law of God into the hearts and minds of those redeemed.

Since these things are true, we are called to live in a new and different way. The doctrine of the book of Hebrews is not a matter of intellectual or academic interest. It is a matter of the gravest importance:

Hebrews 10:19–22 (ESV)

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Here is a command: We are commanded to draw near to Jesus by faith.  Now we can certainly not draw hear to a God whom we do not know: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6.

And, we cannot draw near to God of surpassing holiness without seeking to come as he commands:

Hebrews 12:14–17 (ESV)

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

.

This should cause the shutter and the bleeding heart. It is not to say that we are saved by works, but that there is no true saving faith unless there is obedience:

Hebrews 3:18–19 (ESV)

18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

A belief which entails no obedience is no true belief. A belief which does not draw nearer to God is not a belief which will end in salvation. We cannot live as if we were bound for hell and expect that we will end up in heaven. We cannot expect that we will be the dearest of friends with the devil upon her and the dearest of friends with the Lord in the new earth.

This letter of Hebrews was not given so that we could gain a trunk of theology to drag to heaven. This letter was given to make us fit to see the Lord. We cannot willfully ignore our God and think that he will remembers us:

Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The book of Hebrews is filled with such warnings. Now many think that such warnings are given to the unbelievers in the midst of the congregation: unbelievers certainly should take such warnings to heart. A faith which exists in one’s mouth but not in one’s hands is not a true faith.

Yet, it is only the true believer who can hear and respond to such warnings.  If it takes faith to draw near to God, and if faith is a matter of head, heart and hands, then only a believer can hear the call to live as one drawing near to God and follow up that command. If a man were to come in this room and shout a command in Spanish, only those who speak Spanish could obey. If God gives a command of obedience, only those who have an obedient faith will obey.

This beautiful sermon we have as the book of Hebrews was given as a guide to bring us safely through this world to our Lord. Our Lord knows our weakness and frailty, he knows the surpassing darkness of this world and so he gave a radiant guide to show a path through that darkness.  We will pass through the valley of the shadow of death – but we will pass through with Jesus.

The radiant display of the glory of Jesus, our great High Priest, must stir in us a desire and thankfulness and love to draw near to him. If we do not see Jesus as a beautiful Savior, the supreme object of our desire, worthy of all the glory and praise, then we will not have the strength to persevere until the end. As our Lord says in another place: “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13).

We see all these strands of thought brought together in the final chapter of Hebrews. Beginning in verse 12 of the 13th chapter we read:

Hebrews 13:12–16 (ESV)

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

When we read the command that we are to go to Jesus outside the camp, we may not understand what that means. It sounds very far away and foreign. Perhaps it means to be a missionary, or perhaps it means to go out of the world altogether and be with the Lord death. When we read that we are to acknowledge his name, we may think that we have done our duty when we sing the song or say a prayer and then are done.

Now certainly we are to sing and pray. It may be fitting for one to be a missionary. But we will certainly all out some day go out of this world. But in the context, the Lord calls upon us to do something much more physical and practical.

Look at the end of chapter 12, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and doesn’t let us offer to God acceptable to worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). Here is a command frightful warning. We must offer acceptable worship, worship with reverence and awe. Such worship must be given because “our God is a consuming fire.”

Chapter 13 ends with a prayer in verses 20-21:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This prayer tells us what the book is intended to do us and in us. The letter tells us at profound length of our Lord Jesus not so that we know about Jesus, but rather that we would know Jesus. The letter was given to “equip up with every good thing. The words “that which is pleasing in his sight” match the earlier command of 12:28 that we must offer “acceptable worship” (NASB “acceptable service”).

The purpose of all this doctrine in the book of Hebrews is that we know of Jesus so that we can offer acceptable worship to God in Jesus Christ.  Earlier we spoke of the Christians who pass off the study of the Scripture and obedience by claiming that they know to be saved and so they are through with their duty. But here at the end of Hebrews we learn the answer to such people:

You must learn and obey so that you can offer acceptable worship to God in Jesus Christ. The first 12 chapters of Hebrews are a call to worship. The letter ends with a prayer that you may know God so that you may worship God.

Point Two: Love God and Man

What then is the acceptable worship? The temple no longer stands; bloody sacrifices are no longer needed. What then is our worship? How do we go to Jesus outside the camp?

That is the point of chapter 13 – in fact, in a manner, the rest of Hebrews exists so that we can receive this brief instruction.

First command: Let brotherly love continue, remain.  Believers are commanded to love all persons – even our enemies. But to our brothers, we are called to special service. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

This is no ordinary command. It occurs over and again throughout Scripture.  As Francis Schaeffer put it, brotherly love is the true “mark of a Christian”.  In John 13:35, Jesus said that love for the brother demonstrates true faith, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Paul repeatedly commands brotherly love:

Romans 12:17 (ESV)

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

 

 

Colossians 3:12–14 (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

 

1 Peter 1:21–22 (ESV)

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

 

Peter also commands brotherly love in 2 Peter 1:7.  Jesus, Paul, Peter, John all command brotherly love – it also commanded here in Hebrews 13:1. In fact, it stands at the head of commands in this chapter.

 

One way to understand the flow of the commands in the next few verses is that such commands help to flesh out the command of brotherly love: Show hospitality. Care tangibly for the persecuted brother. Flee sexual immorality – and honour your marriage. Do not be greedy; rather be content with what God provides.  Be respectful of your leaders, those who teach you the Scriptures – because it is by the Scriptures that you will come to develop brotherly love.

 

Before I give some practical advice on how one develops brotherly love, I want you again to see the connection between the call to worship and brotherly love. True brotherly love is true worship. A sacrifice of thanksgiving is giving praise to God, but it is also showing hospitality to a stranger.

 

Jesus, in Matthew 25, explains that at the judgment we will be commended for showing true, tangible love to other human beings because such service to our brother is service to Christ himself:

 

And the King will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40.

 

The call to brotherly love is not some throw away, not some addition to the Christian life. Brotherly love is the Christian life – you cannot be a Christian and not love your brother:

 

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

(1 John 3:14-15 ESV)

 

Remember all the discussion of faith and obedience and salvation? Here is where that comes together.  Without love there is no true faith and no true obedience.  True faith necessarily produces brotherly love – and this brings us back to an earlier point: Obedience makes it possible for us to better understand the Scripture.

 

In the very act of loving of our brother, sacrificially, we come to know God in Jesus Christ.  When I was a boy growing up in Burbank, I often wondered what I could see from the top of the mountains which mark on edge of the city. Only when I climbed up those mountains did I get the sight from those mountains. I could see things from the mountain top which I could not see elsewhere.

 

The same is true of obedience. Only when we love of our brother can we gain the sight of Christ which comes from that perspective.

 

How then does it one increase in brother love? Here are some practical steps adapted from William Gouge: Read the Scripture, a lot. Know the Scripture thoroughly. Attend to the teaching and preaching of the Scripture. Speak about the Bible, frequently. You need the Scripture read and exposited as dearly as a newborn baby needs milk.

 

Such knowledge of the Scripture will enflame your heart with love toward God – for it will teach you and convey to you God’s love for us. The more that we are certain of God’s love toward us, the more we will love others. Therefore, increasing our knowledge of God’s love toward us will generate our love toward brothers.

 

Prefer others before yourself. Always assume the best; don’t be suspicious about one-another. Such suspicion and rivalry will poison love and provoke the wrath of God.

 

Communion, friendship, familiarity: You cannot know brotherly love with those whom you do not know. If you are not in friendly relations with other believers, then you cannot say that you love them. When you keep separate from one-another, you bottle up the gifts of the Spirit. How can one show love or liberality or help or instruction or exhortation alone. The gifts are given to be spent for the glory of God. The servant who kept his master’s money hidden in the ground brought on his master’s anger and punishment. If we hide away our gifts and do not give our brother the space to show his gifts, then we steal from the Lord and harm those we are called to love.

 

Do good and receive good. Doing good shows love. Receiving good encourages love. There are some who take and never give – such persons provoke wrath and do not rightly understand love. There are others who do good to others and refuse good in return. Such persons are as proud as the first sort. No one of us is beyond the need of others.  Be fervent in doing good and humble and thankful in receiving good. 

 

Do this work and be courageous. Do not fear that you will fail. We cannot fail if God is with us. Even if we lose everything we own, if we have the Lord we are wealthy beyond believe.

Do you see how such work is counter to the world. The world says that we must protect ourselves that we must provide for ourselves. The Lord says that we must spend not merely our money but our very lives for Jesus. Brotherly love is madness – except that the world has been turned upside down because Jesus has conquered death. Go to him, outside the camp. Lay aside the wisdom of this world. Offer to the Lord acceptable worship.

We can confidently say

The Lord is my helper

I will not fear

What can man do to me?

 

Hebrews 13:6

 

Francis Schaeffer

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Francis Schaeffer

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http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/11/27/no-little-person/

It was a long time ago, in the summer of 1966, that Doug [Nichols] was working for Operation Mobilization and was stationed in London during their big annual conference. He was assigned to the clean-up crew. One night at around 12:30 AM he was sweeping the steps at the conference center when an older gentleman approached him and asked if this was where the conference was being held. Doug said that it was, but that just about everyone had already gone to bed. This man was dressed very simply and had just a small bag with him. He said that he was attending the conference. Doug replied he would try to find him a place to sleep and led him to a room where about 50 people were bunked down on the floor. The older gentleman had nothing to sleep on, so Doug laid down some padding and a blanket and offered a towel for a pillow. The man said that would be just fine and that he appreciated it very much.

Doug asked the man if he had been able to eat dinner. It turns out that he hadn’t eaten since he had been travelling all day. Doug took him to the dining room but it was locked. He soon jimmied the lock and found some cornflakes and milk and bread and jam. As the man ate, the two began to talk. The man said that he and his wife had been working in Switzerland for several years, where he had a small ministry that served hippies and travellers. He spoke about his work and spoke about some of the people he had seen turn to Christ. When he finished eating, both men turned in for the night.

Doug woke up the next morning only to find out that he was in big trouble. The conference leaders came to him and said, “Don’t you know who it was that you put on the floor last night? That’s Francis Schaeffer! He’s the speaker for this conference! We had a whole room set aside for him!”

Doug had no idea that he was sleeping on the floor next to a celebrity, that he had told a man to sleep on the floor who had a profoundly important ministry. He had no idea that this man had helped shape the Christian church of that day, and really, the church of our day. And Schaeffer never let on. In humility he had accepted his lot and been grateful for it.